Local Filmmakers Light Up Giant Screen Theater at 48 Hour Filmmaker’s Fest 2019
By Maegan Krohn, 9/14/2019 (Header image by fzant)
Last weekend, on September 9, eighteen local filmmakers from central Illinois got to live the dream of so many in their shoes: to see one of their films hit the big screen.
To thank for this opportunity is the Riverfront Museum, which hosted the fifth annual 48 Hour Filmmaker’s Fest in their Giant Screen Theater to display the short films. The premise of the competition is simple: produce a film in 48 hours! Easier said than done.
Entrants were challenged to produce a fully shot and edited 3-5 minute short film in only 48 hours, with very little guidance. On the first day of the competition, Friday, August 30, the contestants were given three prompts. The first, a piece of dialogue — “what happens next?” Second, an item — water. And third, a theme for their piece — transformation. With these three things in mind, the artists had to set to work writing, shooting, and editing and have their works turned in by Sunday, September 1.
The entries were then judged by a panel of three judges, including central Illinois native Aaron Schneider, an Oscar award-winning director. The filmmakers then got to watch their own works on the big screen as they anxiously waited to hear the winning films.
ICC students and Harbinger Student Media members Stephen Heritch, Hank Stuff, and Sarah Sutton took on the challenge this year. The life of a college student is already extremely busy and hard to balance, let alone finding the time to produce a movie in just two days, but these students were ready for it.
Heritch’s piece, entitled One Foot Forward, was a comedy that followed the journey of a young man struggling to find his identity with an uncertain future.
Sutton and Stuff collaborated on their piece, Marooned, which told a story about three soon-to-be college students who grapple with growing up after the titular event.
“Me and my writer Gabe Seamen brainstormed story’s for the short, and then after the topics were announced we got together and decided which idea we wanted to go with, then wrote it together so that we were both happy with it,” Stephen said in regards to tackling the daunting task, “On Saturday we got together with the rest of the cast and crew and filmed it over the course of about 7 hours, before I edited it that night.”
“The best part for me was actually shooting as we didn’t have a script or a storyboard to go off of. It provided the experience to have a lot more spontaneous creative thinking,” Hank said about the creative process behind the production.
One Foot Forward took home first runner-up, yielding a cash prize of $250! When asked what advice he would give to future contestants, Heritch stated “Preparation, preparation preparation… You’re going to run into problems that you don’t expect, and [you need] to make sure that everything that you do have control over goes as smoothly as possible. Booking locations in advance, and getting all your actors and crew booked are pretty much necessities.”
All of the contestants in the 48 Hour Filmmaker’s Fest did something seemingly impossible. Crunching days, or even weeks worth of writing, shooting, and editing into two days is an incredible feat. Getting to see your movie cast onto a 70-foot wide screen is a pretty cool payoff, too.
If you’re interested in attending any other events at the Giant Screen Theater, you can view events and tickets here: https://cart.peoriariverfrontmuseum.org/performancecalendar.aspx
The Riverfront Museum is currently looking for volunteers for all sorts of events. Daytime and evening, working with kids or adults, weekdays and weekends, flexible hours and at whatever level of commitment. If interested, please contact Shelley Fritz for more information at sfritz@peoriariverfrontmuseum.org or at 309-645-9322.